AI.COMM - Avian and Pandemic Influenza Resource Link

40
AS-NEEDED CAPACITY BUILDING RESPONSE
AI.COMM was often called upon
to provide expertise and build
capacity on a variety of issues, as
needed. Less than a year into the
project, USAID asked AI.COMM
to develop training modules on the
correct use of personal protective
equipment; decontamination and
supplies; and sampling, rapid testing
and packaging supplies and processes.
AI.COMM was then quickly
dispatched to countries including
Mali, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan
and Bangladesh to implement these
three-day instructional sessions.
Another example of AI.COMM
being brought in to provide
technical assistance was a request
to help condense the U.S. Government’s
communication plan for
pandemic infl uenza mitigation
into an operational document that
stressed the non-pharmaceutical
interventions to be observed in the
event of an infl uenza pandemic.
B FINAL REPORT
In response to fi ndings that fi eld epidemiologists
were in need of basic information on communicating
during outbreaks in general, USAID asked
AI.COMM to design a curriculum on applied
communication skills for epidemiology professionals.
The training consisted of three lessons that
provided the fi eld staff with key communication
skills they will need, especially when conducting
and reporting on outbreak investigations, and
employed discussions, ‘hands-on’ learning
activities and feedback sessions, as well as ‘oncamera’
interview role plays to hone skills in
listening and asking questions, developing talking
points and key messages, and message delivery.
A pretest workshop was held with the University
of Mahidol’s Field Epidemiology Training Program
(FETP) in Bangkok in September 2009 and
moderated by a professional researcher who
conducted feedback sessions following each of
the three sessions and an overall evaluation at
the end of the day.